An online novel excerpt.
4 out of 5
http://pyrsamples.blogspot.com/2010/09/wolf-age-by-james-enge.html
Showing posts with label sorcery fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sorcery fantasy. Show all posts
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Turn Up This Crooked Way - James Enge
"So he sat down again and took off his shoes. After writing his name and a few other words on the heel of his left shoe, he trimmed a strip of leather from the sole and tied it around his bare left foot at the arch. He did the same with the other shoe (and foot). He muttered a few more words (familiar to those-who-know). Then he picked up the shoes, one in each hand, and tossed them onto the path. They landed, side by side, toes forward, about two paces distant.
He stood up and moved his feet experimentally. The empty shoes mimicked the motion of his feet. He stepped forward onto the path; the shoes politely maintained the two-pace distance, hopping ahead of him step by step. Morlock nodded, content. Then he strapped his backpack to his slightly crooked shoulders and walked, barefoot, into the deadly woods.
Morlock first became aware of the trap through a sensation of walking on air.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at his shoes. They stood on an ordinary stretch of path, dry earth speckled with small sharp stones. But just in front of his bare feet he saw a dark shoe-shaped patch of nothingness.
Morlock nodded and scraped his right foot on the path; the right shoe mimicked it, brushing away a paper-thin surface of earth suspended in the air, revealing the nothingness beneath.
“Well-made,” Morlock the Maker conceded. No doubt the pit beneath the path concealed some deadly thing - that was rather crude. But Morlock liked the sheet of earth hanging in the air, and would have liked to know how it was done."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-turn-up-this-crooked-way/
He stood up and moved his feet experimentally. The empty shoes mimicked the motion of his feet. He stepped forward onto the path; the shoes politely maintained the two-pace distance, hopping ahead of him step by step. Morlock nodded, content. Then he strapped his backpack to his slightly crooked shoulders and walked, barefoot, into the deadly woods.
Morlock first became aware of the trap through a sensation of walking on air.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at his shoes. They stood on an ordinary stretch of path, dry earth speckled with small sharp stones. But just in front of his bare feet he saw a dark shoe-shaped patch of nothingness.
Morlock nodded and scraped his right foot on the path; the right shoe mimicked it, brushing away a paper-thin surface of earth suspended in the air, revealing the nothingness beneath.
“Well-made,” Morlock the Maker conceded. No doubt the pit beneath the path concealed some deadly thing - that was rather crude. But Morlock liked the sheet of earth hanging in the air, and would have liked to know how it was done."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-turn-up-this-crooked-way/
Payment Deferred - James Enge
"“Ten days law — that’s what you got, eh?” the thug whispered. “Ten days to reach the border, then if they catch you inside it — zzccch! When’d your time run out, uh, was it twenny days ago? Thirty?”
“Two months.”
“Sure. Call a Keep, scut-face. By sunrise they’ll have your head drying on a stake upside the Kund-Way Gate.”
“I won’t be calling the Keepers of the Peace,” Morlock agreed. The crooked half-smile on his face was as cold as his ice-gray eyes. “What will I do instead?”
“You can’t kill me, crooky-boy — ” the thug began, with suddenly shrill bravado.
“I can kill you. But I won’t. I’ll cut your tendons and pull your cheek-rings. I can sell the metal for drinking money at any bar in this town, as long as the story goes with it. And I’ll make sure everyone knows where I last saw you.”"
4 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-payment-deferred/
“Two months.”
“Sure. Call a Keep, scut-face. By sunrise they’ll have your head drying on a stake upside the Kund-Way Gate.”
“I won’t be calling the Keepers of the Peace,” Morlock agreed. The crooked half-smile on his face was as cold as his ice-gray eyes. “What will I do instead?”
“You can’t kill me, crooky-boy — ” the thug began, with suddenly shrill bravado.
“I can kill you. But I won’t. I’ll cut your tendons and pull your cheek-rings. I can sell the metal for drinking money at any bar in this town, as long as the story goes with it. And I’ll make sure everyone knows where I last saw you.”"
4 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-payment-deferred/
The Lawless Hours - James Enge
"It went on for a while longer until the Enemy gave up and the illusion-bait disappeared. Left behind (because it was real, not illusion) was an immense man-trap — or horse-trap, really, since it was made to catch our horses as we gallopped to the rescue. I dismounted and went forward to move the thing out of the way and break it with my truncheon. Liskin remained on his horse as look-out, which was in accordance with the Rules and (for once) good sense besides.
“Be careful!” he called to me as I hustled the shattered trap over to the side of the road. “There’s sure to be a Bargainer or two nearby in the wood!”
“You think?” I grunted as I hurled the broken metal into the woods. At that moment I was glaring eye-to-eye with a Bargainer crouching in the brush alongside the road. He made no move toward me, nor I to him, but he smiled at me, showing his teeth filed sharp as needles."
4 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-the-lawless-hours/
“Be careful!” he called to me as I hustled the shattered trap over to the side of the road. “There’s sure to be a Bargainer or two nearby in the wood!”
“You think?” I grunted as I hurled the broken metal into the woods. At that moment I was glaring eye-to-eye with a Bargainer crouching in the brush alongside the road. He made no move toward me, nor I to him, but he smiled at me, showing his teeth filed sharp as needles."
4 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-the-lawless-hours/
Friday, March 12, 2010
Fiction Excerpt: Payment In Full - James Enge
"“You can tell?” I asked faintly.
“I taught Charis how to make a decent eyeball,” Morlock grumbled. He unrolled the sheet in his hand and glanced at it, adding, “The life-scroll isn’t in his handwriting. And the stupid thing couldn’t even speak properly. Not the product of the establishment’s greatest wonder-worker.” “But maybe,” I guessed, “the chief assistant master thaumaturge-in-training?”
“Exactly,” Morlock approved. “Thend: get him.”"
4 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-payment-in-full/
“I taught Charis how to make a decent eyeball,” Morlock grumbled. He unrolled the sheet in his hand and glanced at it, adding, “The life-scroll isn’t in his handwriting. And the stupid thing couldn’t even speak properly. Not the product of the establishment’s greatest wonder-worker.” “But maybe,” I guessed, “the chief assistant master thaumaturge-in-training?”
“Exactly,” Morlock approved. “Thend: get him.”"
4 out of 5
http://www.blackgate.com/fiction-excerpt-payment-in-full/
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